The 2003 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championship for track cycling. They took place at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany from July 30 to August 3, 2003. The championships were due to be held in Shenzhen, China, but were moved to Stuttgart following the 2003 SARS outbreak in China.
One of Germany's best chances of earning a gold medal was the men's team pursuit, having broken the four-minute barrier at the 2000 Olympics. However, Erfurt coach Jens Lang and his cyclist Jens Lehmann disagreed with the national team selection, and threatened with not competing with Berlin riders Robert Bartko and Guido Fulst. As a result, the German federation decided to withdraw from the team pursuit event, and later decided to suspend the Erfurt riders from the national team.[1][2]